Embroidered Pelican Cushion

EMBROIDERED CUSHION: “PELICAN AND SQUIRREL IN A BERRY TREE” Alianor de Ravenglas Abstract This piece is a cushion with an embroidered top consisting of two sections from the Bostocke Sampler (which is dated to 1598). The center portion was charted by Lady Caryl de Trecesson in her work Designs, Period; I charted the border from a scanned image of the complete sampler. In working the center portion, I added a bird to the upper right hand corner that had at one time been present. I also made some minor changes in order to enhance the symmetry of the piece. The embroidery was worked in silk on roughly 20-count linen using cross stitch and back stitch. The top of the cushion is “lined” with a tightly-woven cotton and the back is of the same linen as the top. It is stuffed with scraps of fabric, yarn, and thread. Background The Bostocke Sampler is English and inscribed "Iane Bostocke" and "1598". The piece is linen with red, brown, green, blue, and white colored silk, and silver-gilt and silver thread, worked in cross stitch and 2-sided Italian cross stitch. There are spot motifs at the top and a variety of (mostly) blackwork borders at the bottom. The total size of the piece is about 17" by 15". Victoria and Albert Museum, London.1

This sampler provides a wealth of late 16th-century embroidery patterns, both cross stitch and blackwork.

Figure 1: The Bostocke Sampler2

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Hanson, C. (2002). Designs, Period. 2002. King, D. and S. Levey (1993). The Victoria & Albert Museum's Textile Collection: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750. New York, Canopy Books. 2

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For this piece, I chose two sections of the larger sampler: the pelican and squirrel in a berry tree and one of the blackwork patterns to serve as a border to the central figure. The pelican figure actually served as my introduction to the sampler; I saw Lady Caryl de Trecesson’s chart of it in Designs, Period and decided to work the piece. Only later did I seek out images of the complete sampler to find a border for the piece. I decided to turn the embroidered piece into a cushion because I have a strong preference for making things that are useful. Execution and Construction I worked this embroidery on roughly 20-count linen using Medeira silk floss. Each stitch (both cross stitch and blackwork) crosses two threads. I worked the blackwork section using a backstitch, since the piece is not reversible. This linen is far from ideal for embroidery work; it is intended for clothing and has a fair number of slubs in it. I chose to use it for both modern and medieval reasons (which ultimately boil down to the same thing). Fine “embroidery linen” is quite expensive, both in the modern and in the medieval eras. I was unable to find it at a price that I could afford, and I had this linen left over from making a tunic. It seems plausible to me that embroidery in the medieval period might also have been worked on scraps left over from garment construction, especially by a person first learning the skill. For the central figure of this piece, I used the chart of the central figure found in Designs, Period.

Figure Two: Pelican and Squirrel in a Berry Tree, charted in Designs, Period.

I drew my color selections from a scan of the sampler itself.

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Figure Three: Bostocke Sampler Detail

Upon examination of the photo of the sampler itself, I discovered that there had at one time been a bird perched on the upper right hand branch of the tree.

Figure Four: “Missing” Bird Outlined3

I decided to reintegrate the bird into the design for a number of reasons. First, I liked the image much better with another figure to balance out the squirrel. Second, I intend to use ravens in my personal badge and device, so adding a black bird (a raven) would add a personal touch to the piece. Once I had decided to enhance the symmetry in that part of the piece, I decided to do the same within the tree; the lower left and right quadrants are identical in terms of the leaves and branches on the tree, but the berries were not symmetrical, so I made that modification. I realized very quickly that if I wanted to make a cushion with this piece that I would want to add a border to it. I examined a number of blackwork patterns both from the Bostocke Sampler and from other sources and ultimately decided that I wanted to stay consistent and use a pattern from the Sampler. I charted a number of these and ultimately settled on one that resembled chains in diamond shapes with flowers inside the diamonds.

Illustration 5: Bostocke Sampler Detail 3

My thanks to Elias Gedney for enhancing the digital image of the sampler to make the bird more visible.

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I was unable to reproduce the pattern exactly, and ended up with the following chart, which is what I used.

Illustration 6: My Chart of the Blackwork Pattern

I chose this pattern for a number of reasons. First, there was a clear answer to the question of “How do I make this pattern go around a corner?” Second, it had an appropriate scale; when worked over two threads, it did not overpower the central figure. My color choice for the blackwork was motivated by the same concern; I considered working it in black floss, but ultimately decided that doing so would draw focus away from the cross stitch. Instead I worked the border in the same green that was used for the tree. Obviously “blackwork” refers to the style of embroidery not to the color of the thread used, and in the original Sampler, the same green was used both for the tree and for some of the blackwork sections in the bottom half of the Sampler. Once the embroidery was done, I had to turn the embroidered fabric into a cushion top. About the time I started this project, I began to save small fabric scraps and thread and yarn clippings to use as stuffing. I have seen references to numerous methods of stuffing cushions in the medieval period ranging from fleece to cotton to human hair to fabric scraps; I chose the last method because scraps were readily and freely available. This falls in line with my use of larger leftover pieces to make the cushion in the first place. I cut the larger scraps into small pieces so that a person using the cushion would not feel lumps of wadded up fabric inside. As I worked the embroidery, I realized that the back of the work was potentially a “weak” spot; I was afraid that the process of stuffing the pillow might snag some of the stitches from the back and damage the embroidery. I had seen reference to embroidered coifs that were lined to protect the stitching; it seemed a reasonable solution to do the same thing here. I was also concerned that some of my dark-colored scraps might show through the relatively light yellow fabric. I basted a piece of tightly-woven cotton to the back of the embroidered top. I stitched the cushion top to the back using a combination of running stitch and back stitch; stress points such as the corners and the opening through which I turned the pillow right-side out. I used the visible edges of the embroidered border to guide my stitching; I knew that I wanted the border to cover the entire cushion top. Once the cushion was turned, I stuffed it with the scraps and sewed the opening shut using a small whip stitch. Stuffing with scraps presented a number 4

of problems I had never before encountered. Most notably, fabric scraps are much more lumpy than purchased cotton or polyester filling. Second, some of the darker-colored scraps show through the yellow fabric; fortunately this is only a problem on the back of the cushion in part (I believe) because the embroidery hides it and also because the cotton backing prevents its visibility. Reflections This is the first work I’ve done where I really questioned whether or not a modern aesthetic was influencing my decisions. Would the medieval eye have wanted the same symmetry in the central figure that my modern one does? What would the medieval eye have concluded regarding the scale of the blackwork relative to the cross stitch? And what about the choice to use green floss rather than some other color for the border? These are questions that I’m not prepared to answer, but I do know that I am quite pleased with how the final work turned out. Sources Hanson, C. (2002). Designs, Period. 2002. http://www.dragonbear.com/dp/dp.html King, D. and S. Levey (1993). The Victoria & Albert Museum's Textile Collection: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750. New York, Canopy Books.

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